The Choices We Make
by Bookworm1978
Summary: When Leo Get's back, He has to deal with the choices he made. After the events with Winters, he seems to be starting to make some progress, but will things ever be back to where they were? (T for some language and other ickies :P)
1. Chapter 1 Prologue

I knew leaving would affect my brothers. I knew that staying longer than I was supposed to; dropping all contact with my family would have consequences. I knew that I was cutting ties, which those ties would be very hard to repair. I did it anyway. I was a failure, or so I believed at the time. I could not come back to them a failure. I honestly believed that I was doing them a favor if I only came back successful. And I believed that staying where I was and helping the poor there was the only way I could be successful. Maybe if I did enough, maybe if I saved enough lived, disrupted enough evil, kept enough people from starving, from dying of illness simply because of lack of medicine, I would finally stop feeling like a failure. I now know I was wrong.

I ran into April, or more to the truth, April came looking for me. She told me how bad it gotten. A couple of days later, I decided that I was needed more at home. I was hiding, not training. It was a coward's way out. This is something I will have to live with. When I got home, Things were different. I expected this, but I didn't expect just by how much. Raph, at first seemed normal, for Raph. He never was very social even at his best. When he started challenging me, I accepted it, because he always was like that. But then it got worse. It got worse and worse, way more than he ever was before, until something snapped. We had a major fight, and it led to my capture. I am not proud of what I did, but I am, on some level grateful. Raph and I are closer now than we had been in years.

Michelangelo was not angry at all. He seemed to have that part missing somehow. What he was was clingy. Since I came back, he would inevitably hover around me. Even when he was acting normal, well normal for Mikey, he would find a way to keep me in his line of vision. He would come and hug me for no good reason, then slip away as though ashamed. He made my favorite foods, and joked about how jungle life didn't suit me. He would get a scared, pensive expression on his face every time I had a bag on my shoulder. Slowly, this faded, and he began to accept that I was going nowhere, but those months were very painful.

The reactions of these two brothers were, on the whole, kind of expected. Raph always dealt with his problems with force and aggression. If he could not fight it, intimidate it, or otherwise force it to bend to his will, well, I don't think he can do much with it. I know that might be over-simplifying him, but only recently did I even see that he could be subtle. Maybe he will mature. I don't know. Mikey is the baby of the family, he doesn't do well with the more serious side of life, and I really don't want him to learn how. I rely on his optimism, his happy-go-lucky nature. If he ever changed, if we ever lost that, I don't know what would become of our family. I only hope that my actions didn't hasten that evil day for us. No, I was able to somewhat assess how they would act. But one brother, he is not acting as I expect at all.

Donatello. He seems to be the one that changed the least in the years I been away. Quiet as ever, he stands back, and watched us the way he always does. But sometimes there is something in his eye I don't like. He does not contradict me, nor does he fight me on my decisions like Raph does. He does not follow me; as though he was afraid that I will vanish again, still…I can't shake the feeling that there is something very wrong with him. Something that I did to him. With Raph and Mike, I at least have an idea how to make things right. But how am I supposed to fix something, if I have no idea what the problem is, or if there is even one?


	2. Chapter 2 Storm Brewing

Leo was practicing in the dojo, when he heard two others walk in, arguing as they did so. "I really have no time for this, Raph. I have some work I need to get done, and I need to start my shift in a couple of hours!"  
"All the more reason to get some practice in, shell-head! You been slacking, and it shows."  
"Blow it out of your shell, Raph."

"Don, I ain't going to take that. You get in there, and spar, or I'm going to shove that stick of yours so far up your"  
"Raph! Don. Break it up!" Leo said, facing them with a startled expression on his face. "When had you started bickering like that?"  
"Where had you been, Leo?" Raph shot back, staring at him with snapping green eyes. "Oh, right. Never mind."  
"Raph, I'm…forget it. What is the argument about."  
"Only Raph treating me like a kid. I will practice when I have more time."  
"Which is never, brainiac! I don't even think you sleep anymore."

"What's it to you what I do with my time! It don't affect you."  
"It does if we are fighting, and I gotta protect your shell all the time!"  
"I said it before, Shove. It."

"Oh, it's on now!"

Leo watched in stunned silence as Raph swung at Don, who barely managed to duck it. He stepped back as the two fought, crossing his arms before him. A part of him, the part that kicked in when he had to strategize for a fight, had to agree with Raph's assessment of Donatello's skill. He had gotten sloppy. He was not moving as fast as Leo remembered, and he was missing some very obvious openings. Raph on the other hand was fighting better than Leo ever seen him. Leo supposed that Raph's playing vigilante had some good after all.

He let the fight, if you can call it that go on until Don was down. Then he stepped in. "we are going to start having training sessions tomorrow, 8 am."

Raph rolled his eyes, and offered his hand to Don. Don slapped it away, and got up on his own. He glanced at Leo, then back at Raph with an unreadable expression, and then stalked off. Raph crossed his arms. "Well…that went well."

"What…didn't you guys keep up with practice?" Leo asked, walking over to stand by Raph. "What happened?"  
"What do you…?" Raph started to say, as he turned to face him. Then he stopped, seeing only concern in Leo's face. He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, and looked away. "Ah, shell, Leo. I…we tried for a while. Then, well, things fell apart. Mike and I still spar sometimes. But he has his job too, and, well, he ain't been the same. Don, well, ya know how he gets. Well he's been worse. He's always on the computer, and even getting him to spar…well, you seen what happens!"

"Well, let's see if we can get back to normal."  
"Yeah, sure Leo. Whatever."

"Raph. I'm worried about you guys. I'm only trying to help."

"Yeah? Well...Yeah, I know Leo, I know." Raph looked away again. Leo smiled slightly, seeing him trying to control his temper like this. Ever since their fight that led to Leo's capture, Raph's been far more proactive about trying to control himself. Leo approved and appreciated the gesture.

"What happened? Really?"  
"I guess, no I know what it is. Don was trying to be both him and you and he just, well, he's just became the worst of both. You know what I mean?"

"Not really, but I'll try to. Can you explain?"  
"Ah, shell! I don't know! It's like...It's like he suddenly became as nagging as you on your worst day. But so snippy and condens...it was like he...he is always a bit of a know-it-all, you know. But it only got worse. And he worried all the time. Surprised he ain't got an ulcer ta be honest. I tried to help, but he always got uppity if you tried to offer any help, and we were always fighting. Now...I don't know if he knows how to go back to being old Don, ya know?"

Leo nodded, and sighed. "I think I'm starting to see." He said softly.

"Yeah well, I hope so. Cause I ain't going to try to nursemaid him no more. If he don't show up tomorrow, I ain't responsible."

Leo watched Raph storm off, with one thought buzzing in his mind. "Why do I have to be?"


End file.
